Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/313



the St. Peter River (Minnesota), where the Watonwan (Blue Earth River) enters the same, thence down the middle of that river to the middle of the channel of the Mississippi and thence down the middle of that river to the place of beginning. These boundaries would have included all of the present State of Iowa except the county of Lyon and a part of Sioux and Osceola, about half of Plymouth and a small fraction of the corners of O’Brien and Dickinson. It would have taken from southeast Minnesota about seventeen counties.

The proposed Constitution provided for biennial sessions of the Legislature; the biennial election of State officers consisting of a Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer and Superintendent of Public Instruction; a Supreme Court to consist of three judges to be chosen by the Legislature; district judges to be elected by the voters of the respective districts; all judges to hold office for four years. Banks were prohibited, and the State debt was limited to $100,000. The limit of all corporations was fixed at twenty years, the private property of stockholders was made liable for corporate debts and the Legislature empowered to repeal all acts of incorporation. Private property could not be taken for the use of corporations without the consent of the owner, a provision which would have enabled any land owner to prevent the building of a railroad over his premises. The Constitution thus framed was forwarded to A. C. Dodge, Delegate in Congress, who was working to secure the admission of Iowa.

The growing conflict between the North and South over the extension of slavery in new States was renewed with bitterness when application was made for the admission of Iowa. After a lengthy contest in each house, a bill finally passed for the admission of Iowa as a free State and Florida as a slave State, on the 3d of March, 1845.

The act of Congress approved June 12, 1838, creating the Territory of Iowa, appropriated $20,000 to be used in